Bing app gets huge leap in US Apple App Store apps ranking

The news confirming the integration of ChatGPT into Bing really made huge improvements to the Microsoft-owned web search engine. In the recent download data and app ranks, Bing made considerable improvements as more and more people hope to get access to the smarter Bing version. In particular, there has been a 10x increase in new downloads of Bing since the announcement. The Bing Search app also now ranks at 10th place in the free download category of the Apple App Store in the US, while Edge is currently in third place in the utility app category. (Tech Crunch)

The unveiling of the new ChatGPT-powered Bing by Microsoft has taken the world by storm this week. The revelation includes sharing the search engine’s new AI features that could allow users to receive responses in a conversational manner. The biggest attraction of Bing now, nonetheless, is its ability to produce AI-generated content from essays to emails, which is also the current highlight of the ChatGPT chatbot. Its ability to incorporate more up-to-date details into its content makes it more attractive as its tech will now use the web as a source. With this, it is no surprise that Bing caught the interest of many, prompting them to download the app that caused the sudden surge of Bing downloads.

Unfortunately, access to the new Bing is still limited at the time. Those interested in experiencing Bing’s new AI capabilities need to sign up for Microsoft’s waiting list, and getting approved won’t be that easy. Microsoft notes on its Bing waitlist page that users need to set up Microsoft defaults on their PC to get fast access to the AI features, which means having the Bing app alone won’t be enough. While this part might be disappointing for some, it is proof that Microsoft managed to draw massive attention from the public, which means a huge threat to Google’s own search engine.

Currently, Google is still the top player in the search engine market. However, the interest shown by countless Apple users after the ChatGPT integration into Bing spells trouble for Google. As pointed out by Tech Crunch using the data from the data.ai, Bing was considered insignificant in terms of ranks before the ChatGPT announcements. It ranked 160 on the US Apple App Store’s productivity app category and didn’t even obtain a place in the top overall ranking of the US Apple App Store apps. With this, a big boost in numbers just a week after the ChatGP announcement is really a huge success for Microsoft. On the other hand, Google won’t like this, especially now that Google is allegedly paying Apple to stay out of the search engine business. This means the more users Bing attracts, the more Google loses in its business.

Conquering Google, nonetheless, is still a long journey for Microsoft. Stat Counter data shows that Google still sits comfortably at the top of the search engine market worldwide, with a total share of 93.53% this month. On the other hand, Bing currently has a 2.78% market share. 

Google wants to retain this dominance by announcing its own AI tool called Bard this week. And while Google bragged that “it draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses,” its entrance to the battle was not welcomed with favorable results. In the demo shared by the company, Bard already committed an error regarding the information it provided, which was criticized by many. In relation to this, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, lost $100 billion in market value on Wednesday, which might indicate the official AI war between Google and Microsoft.